Construction of research articles in the leading interdisciplinary accounting journals

PURPOSE– The purpose of this paper is to examine the construction of articles published in three ranked interdisciplinary accounting journals. /METHODOLOGY/APPROACH – The analysis is based on articles published during 2010 in , Auditing & Accountability Journal (AAAJ), Accounting, Organizations and Society (AOS) Critical Perspectives on Accounting (CPA). The authors develop a framework and examine of the published articles, including the prose. – Based on the construction of accounting academic articles in the highly ranked journals, the authors introduce a simplified concept of the five distinct major parts of article, make some taken-for-granted aspects of article construction explicit and conclude that , if used effectively, can add to the quality of an article. Finally, there is a discussion of, and reflection on, how the taken-for-granted rules of academic publishing can be challenged. LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS – This article is limited by the authors’ own analysis and of AAAJ, AOS and CPA articles published during 2010. /VALUE– As far as can be ascertained, the authors are the first to examine the of research articles published in high ranking interdisciplinary accounting journals. The can assist emerging scholars in the process of planning and writing their own articles. For researchers, the paper’s insights may serve to reaffirm or help further develop their . The paper also contributes to the ongoing debate around the pressure to publish, the of publications, and the difficulties of getting published.